Ex-Patriots player speaks out, would have definitely not attended White House had team won
Tom Brady missed the Patriots’ visit to the White House after they won Super Bowl LI.
There were rumors that his wife, who is supposedly not a fan of the Trump administration, didn’t want him to go. Brady claimed that he had previous family commitments that precluded a visit to the White House.
At the end of the day, the world may never know the truth because of the gag-like nature coach Bill Belichick seems to keep the New England Patriots under.
But once players leave the business-like cocoon of the Patriots organization, they often find themselves with an unbridled urge to talk.
Case in point, former Patriots cornerback Johnson Bademosi couldn’t have been much clearer about why he would’ve missed the White House visit had the Patriots won Super Bowl LII.
“I definitely would not have gone [to the White House],” Bademosi said to USA Today.
Bademosi went on to explain that his theoretical boycott had as much, or perhaps even more, to do with Trump’s mannerisms and behavior than his politics.
“Politics aside, I disagree with a lot that is going on,” Bademosi said. “I got to meet the previous president a number of times. He was warm and welcoming and it just doesn’t seem that way at the moment.”
Bademosi and Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins, a noted social activist, were at Maya Angelou Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. on Friday. They both visited the school, which specializes in enrolling students who’ve suffered enormous trauma, in lieu of a White House visit after Trump disinvited the Eagles from the White House.
Both Bademosi and Jenkins were there to help celebrate graduation week.
Bademosi recently signed a deal with the Houston Texans, but played for the Super Bowl runner-up Patriots last season.
Considering his recent ties to the Pats, it’s still a little surprising for Bademosi to be so forthcoming on a fairly political topic.
Texans coach Bill O’Brien is a chip off of the Belichick coaching block, spending five years in New England going from an offensive assistant in 2007 all the way to offensive coordinator in 2011. That’s to say nothing of the various members of the team’s coaching staff who all have Patriots connections, including Romeo Crennel, now-former defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel (who is currently the head coach of the Tennessee Titans), Larry Izzo and Wes Welker.
For all intents and purposes (minus the championships and prestige), the Texans are a veritable Patriots South.
Trump’s feud with the NFL has been well-chronicled. He famously ripped the league at a rally in September over the NFL’s anthem protesters. The anthem protests began in 2016 with Colin Kaepernick.
Most recently, however, Trump seems to have extended something akin to an olive branch. He reached out to NFL players, offering to meet them to discuss potential candidates for a presidential pardon.
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